Duolingo

Duolingo promises to help everyone learn a language for free. Their bit-sized, gamified, and addictive lessons have more than 170 million users. Because it can be used through most mobile devices, Duolingo can help you learn to read, write, listen, and speak during your breaks, commutes, or any other time spent waiting.

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At the beginning of your Duolingo experience – after choosing which language to learn – you are asked to set your daily goal and may pick either casual (5 minutes per day), regular (10 minutes per day), serious (15 minutes per day), or insane (20 minutes per day).

You can decide to start either at the very beginning of a given language (what Duolingo calls Basic 1) or have a placement test which lasts about 5 minutes. The test is adaptive, meaning it gets harder (or easier) based on your answers.

During the test, you will have to translate expressions or sentences like “bye and thanks” or “I’m a woman.” Also, you will hear some expressions in the language you’re learning and you will have to type them. Don’t worry, Duolingo accepts typos, especially when it comes to accents (for which there is a special keyboard available) and you can always repeat what you have just heard.

The system makes you feel good straight from the beginning, letting you win achievements in a very gamified way every time you accomplish a milestone, such as passing the test. Once you have created a profile, you may then choose your next lessons. These start with tips and notes; for example, the grammar rules in some items are explained.

In the lesson itself, you will mostly be asked to translate expressions or sentences. Sometimes, you will be asked to speak via your microphone. Here’s a hint: the app lets you see the translation of a word when you hover over it, which definitely helps!

At end of the lesson, you can go back and do a review. Upon completion, you gain a score and earn some sort of virtual currency (lingots) which can be used to redeem items from the virtual store. The whole experience really feels like a game, complete with a leaderboard to measure up against your friends. It also records the day streaks you have achieved, helping to keep your motivation up.

Not so great

The app is good if you want to get a beginner's guide to common words and phrases but it's not good for explaining why you use certain words for certain phrases. If you really want to understand a language, get another app or take a course at univesity.

by
Lily Nolan

★

5.0

Overall Rating

Learning efficiency

Value for money

Really great!

With Duolingo, it feels more like playing like learning...but I realized I actually have been learning quite a bit, when we recently traveled to Mexico. The app is really awesome as it takes the "pain" out of learning.

by
Louise Pendelton

★

4.5

Overall Rating

Learning efficiency

Value for money

I like this app

I didn’t have high expectations about this product because its free and all. I thought its probably got ads and I was right. I would of wanted less of the ads but that’s probably the only thing about it I don’t like. I like how it gets you excited to learn more. That little bird even tells you something like ‘hey man you can do this’ and that sometimes makes me smile. Amazing app.

by
Ryan Sun

★

4.0

Overall Rating

Learning efficiency

Value for money

Its very fun to use

I find the graphics too quirky but once you get past that, you’d see how great this app actually is. Me and my friends use this app and we compare our scores.

by
Rajeev Argawal

★

4.5

Overall Rating

Learning efficiency

Value for money

Really amazing app

This is one of the best apps out there if you want to learn a different language.

by
Isabella Martinez

★

4.0

Overall Rating

Learning efficiency

Value for money

I keep it in my phone

I originally downloaded this app to impress a Mexican girl from school I was trying to date. It’s free and I wanted something that would teach me some quick Spanish words and sentences. I studied everyday and boy, was I glad to hear myself after three weeks. I talked to her and we ended up dating for two months, but it didn’t work out in the end. I still have the app on my phone though and I am still trying to master Spanish.

by
Ryan Brown

★

4.5

Overall Rating

Learning efficiency

Value for money

It's great!

This is the very first app I tried when I decided to learn to speak Spanish. I can’t say it’s perfect, but it didn’t disappoint. I mean, it’s free and it’s fun and it’s got a lot of ways to really teach you the language you want. I’ve read a lot of great reviews about Duolingo and I say I agree with many of them and I am glad a lot of people think like I did and like this product.

by
Henry Barouxis

★

4.0

Overall Rating

Learning efficiency

Value for money

Good, Free, Simple

Good app, easy and simple to use....and FREE (apart from the certificate if you need one)

by
Mike Sullivan

★

4.0

Overall Rating

Learning efficiency

Value for money

Great free app, but could be improved

Duolingo is a free app with many languages on offer. It tried French and was a bit disappointed: too much like a game for kids/teens and some of the vocabulary/sentences just feel weird. Could be better....but it's free!

by
Alex Perchov

★

4.5

Overall Rating

Learning efficiency

Value for money

Excellent App to learn any language

Duolingo is simply the best free language app out there: great content, easy to use and lots of reminders to help you stick to it! Would be an absolute 10 stars if there was the option to connect with private tutors.

by
Tom Tompkins

★

1.0

Overall Rating

Learning efficiency

Value for money

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